the fundamental principles of Sufism that prevailed among the companions
and Muslims of the early times.’
1
Thus we find that the first phase of Sufism was a form of asceticism, the
outcome of certain early believers’ personal interpretation of the Islamic
concept of God and what this entailed.
There are a number of traditions narrating how the companions of the
Prophet and the companions’ companions lived in awe and fear of God.
Hasan al-Basri (642-728), the most famous Sufi of the first phase, had once
told his disciples: ‘I have seen people among the Prophet’s companions to
whom the world meant less than the dust under their feet’. He met a large
number of the companions of the Prophet, including seventy senior
companions and he reports that they wore simple, homespun garments
made of camel hair, and were so preoccupied with righteous living that
they seemed lost to the world. “Were they to see the best among you, they
would think: ‘These people do not believe in the Day of Judgement,’” says
Hasan al-Basri, testifying to the fact that theirs was the deep consciousness
of the sin of disobedience and an extreme dread of divine punishment.They
often passed the whole night in vigil, repeating the verses of the Qur’an.
(45:20)
Abu Bakr, the first caliph, seeing a bird sitting on a tree, exclaimed:
‘Oh bird, how fortunate you are. If only I could be like you sitting on trees,
eating their fruit and then flying away. No reckoning or doom awaits you.
By God, I would like to be a tree by the wayside, and have a passing camel
take me in its mouth, chew me, swallow me and then dispose of me as
dung.”
(Al-Baihaqi, Al Sunan Al-Kubra)
1
Muqaddima (Beyrut, 1900) P 467
